Running Eyes
by Skeleton L. Crow
Summary: Ron is sick of running, and there are only a few people left... Ron's POV


We're running. Running oh so fast. We keep running, even though we feel them behind us, coming closer. She's there, too - being held, being pulled. But she's not screaming; she doesn't scream. She just deals with it. The humiliating actions and torture. Being dragged along on these grotesque hunts, to watch her friends die. She wants to save us. She wants to help.  
  
But it's too late now.  
  
I'm the youngest, and I'm at the back. I can see five figures in front of me. I can tell who they are by their height. Charlie runs the fastest, Bill not far behind. Percy's lanky form sprints along, and the twins lope after, side by side. I see Charlie's head crane round. "Run, Ron! RUN!"  
  
I race even faster. The grass is frosted, and it crunches under my bare feet. I can't feel them. The cold is too much. The pain is too much. I want to stop, oh so badly.  
  
Then I think of her. What she did for us. What she sacrificed. She wouldn't want me to stop. She'd be horrified if I stopped. She couldn't stand any of us to have their souls taken.  
  
The hunt goes on. They float behind us, and I start to feel the hatred, the depression. But I cannot succumb. Then a forest comes into view. Charlie is almost there. I have one last length to sprint, and then I will make it.  
  
George stumbles.  
  
Fred yells and falls beside his brother. Neither tries to get up. I can just see George's ankle, pale against the dark grass, as I sprint ever closer. Twisted at an odd, warped angle. I start to slow down, but all Fred has to do is look at me.  
  
The pain in his eyes. The horror. He doesn't want to live anymore. And he knows he cannot be saved. He tells me to keep running, save myself. He forbids me to stop. The gaze is broken, he clings his fallen brother close, and he rocks him gently. He knows I will run by. And I do.  
  
As I run past, I hear George whisper. "Kill me, Fred. Kill me."  
  
And Fred answers. "I can't."  
  
But she can. I hear the explosion behind me as she does.  
  
Fred and George are gone now.  
  
Charlie and Bill have disappeared into the forest. I see Percy nearly there, and then he jumps, suddenly, to the side. A green bolt hits the ground where he had been heading for. He nears the forest, and he is so close.  
  
Another emerald bolt takes him right in the chest.  
  
I don't know what to do now. I cannot stop; I cannot go on. As I contemplate the situation, I think about what happened. Percy gone; Fred and George too. I see Charlie there, sprawled on the grass, and I know he's left too. Bill made it, he must have seen Charlie fall. Just Bill and I now.  
  
We are the only one's left besides her, and the four teachers. They will defend Hogwarts, or die trying. I know it will be the latter. He will be victorious.  
  
What has happened to me? I used to be so happy. So content to complain about school, go to Hogsmead, laugh with Harry and Hermione. . .  
  
Hermione. The memory tries to push forward, and I push it, and the tears, back.  
  
Harry. Oh, Harry! He thought he could take Voldemort. She told him not to go, but he didn't listen. And now he's with them, soulless.  
  
A buzzing brings me back to the present. A dragonfly flies faster than I run, and I look forward. Bloody hell. There's the forest. Where are the snipers? Where?  
  
The dragonfly flies closer to me, and dodges right. I know to follow. It's her way of helping. It's all she can do.  
  
A bolt hits the ground where I stood but moments before. The dragonfly will save me. A dodge left now, a dodge right. Bolts of bottle green, the same colour of Harry's eyes, fall around me. Then I see it.  
  
An opening in the forest wall of trees.  
  
And I race through.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
It is daytime now. But you can't tell. Clouds are always in the air. I am curled in the roots of a tree. I ran so far before, and when I couldn't go anymore, sleep came easy. But I dreamed.  
  
I don't like to dream.  
  
It's always Hermione, head back, eyes closed, as a beam of bluish light streams from her chest. Her life force, being taken from her. For him, Voldemort. I can't move. They have me frozen. I can't turn away; I can't close my eyes. I can only watch Hermione die.  
  
I never did tell her I loved her.  
  
She's there. She's straining at her bonds. She's glaring at him. Oh, the loathing! The hatred! She cannot stand him. One of these days, if she ever gets the chance, she will take it. And he will know the meaning of pain. You can see it in her eyes.  
  
Then those multi-coloured eyes turn a beautiful shade of jade. Harry, as he is tied to the Table. I didn't actually see him when they took his soul from him. But I know what happened. I stare into those eyes, and the light fades. They are now a dull, deaden green-grey. There is no more spark in those eyes.  
  
The eyes change to a hazel-blue. Fred as stares at me. The eyes, telling me to leave, telling me to run, telling me to go. They look so haunted.  
  
That's the look we all got. Everyone has the same eyes now. Insipid, dull, and vague. Haunted. So much pain, in everyone's memories.  
  
And then I woke up.  
  
I'm left with my own memories. I try to push them away, but some come to the surface.  
  
There are only 7 left. 5 that aren't in captivity.  
  
They took Bill. I ran into him, and then we embraced. Then he pushed me away, and I fell back through the bush. His eyes gave me that look. And I went running.  
  
I feel like I'm always running.  
  
I wonder how the teachers are doing. Hagrid is there, and he will protect Dumbledore to the end. McGonagall was a spy for us. They found her out, but she managed to escape. She ran from the Death Eaters right into the Dementors waiting arms. She would be in Voldemort's soulless army with Harry if Snape hadn't saved her.  
  
Those four. The last time I saw them, they were telling me to run. Death Eaters were descending from the sky, and they told me to run. And I turned from Hogwarts gate and guess what? I ran.  
  
I will always run.  
  
Everyone who loves me tells me to run. I went to the Burrow with Ginny. Mum and Dad took one look at me, looked at Bill, and Charlie, and Perce, and the twins, and told us to run. They hid Ginny. But I know that the Dementors found her.  
  
We ran to the Order of the Phoenix. Only Lupin was left. He was mortally injured. He told us to go. The Dementors would be back for him. He begged Charlie to kill him, and Charlie did. But not before he told us to run.  
  
And as we ran, we saw people Kissed. The Death Eaters knew we were a threat, the six of us together. So Dementors were after us, and they take the souls of any in the way.  
  
So I'm the only one left. All by myself. She's in captivity, and so is Bill. Bill might not even be alive anymore. I don't think he'd stand for the imprisonment. He wouldn't wait to be tortured, or murdered, or Kissed. He'd turn that deadly bolt of bright green on himself.  
  
The teachers? I know they will fall. There is no doubt. Three magicians and a half-giant can only do so much. And Voldemort himself will see Hogwarts fall. Harry was the only one who could kill him, but Voldemort took Harry's soul himself. No Dementor was granted that honour. Voldemort took Harry, in more ways than one. And now there is no hope.  
  
The truth hits me now. There is no one left. No friends, no Harry, no Hermione, no teachers, no Weasleys.  
  
Only me and her. And she is caged.  
  
I think of her. She is indestructible, and the Dementors can't find her soul. It's not there, in her. It's somewhere else. And torture doesn't work. She doesn't feel pain. Physical pain, that is. So they tried to get her to say, by killing everyone she loved in front of her. She can feel emotional pain. And the tears streamed down her face, I know. But she doesn't have any idea where her soul is. She says she doesn't have one.  
  
But she does. Her eyes are the only ones that smile. The only ones that have any luminescence. No soulless person has eyes like that.  
  
In the roots of the tree, I cry. There is nothing else to do.  
  
I cry myself to another sleep of exhaustion.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
There is soft golden light here. I am being cradled. This is the first dream I've liked in a long time. I nestle deeper into the softness of sleep's arms. Opening my eyes a little more, I look up. There is a face. Her face.  
  
Soft golden-brown hair surrounds her glowing features. She smiles down at me, a sorrowful, yet triumphant smile. I realize that, wherever I am, I am in her arms. She isn't sleep. She is an angel. A single tear falls from her eye, and I reach up to wipe it away.  
  
She is sitting, her back to a huge weeping willow trunk. Hanging green leaves surround us. I start to speak.  
  
"Where am I? Why-"  
  
She places a finger to her lips. "Shh."  
  
"You were caught-"  
  
"They cannot control my dreams, can they?" her voice is soft and low. She is so beautiful. One of my best friends. The only one that is not dead, or worse.  
  
"Isn't this my dream?"  
  
"It's our dream. Now sleep. I will keep you safe."  
  
"Where are the others?"  
  
She looks on the verge of so many tears. She is an angel so close to falling. I burrow into her arms.  
  
"It's ok. I think I know."  
  
She nods. Then I close my eyes, and I am seconds away from the beautiful, dreamless sleep of a careless man when I hear a song, sung ever so lightly.  
  
"In the arms of the angel, I hope you find. . . some comfort here. . ."  
  
Slumber claims me.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I have no idea how long I sleep. Maybe hours, maybe days. But I wake in a shaking hall. Standing, I am back to my full strength. I realize, through the tremors, that this is Hogwarts. Hogwarts under attack.  
  
I race for the south tower. It is closest, and someone will be there. That is where they will be to fight.  
  
It takes me minutes. I emerge to find myself beside Hagrid. He doesn't notice I'm there. He's too busy trying to figure out how to keep his part of the shield up. I take precious seconds to gaze at the other three towers. Dumbledore holds the north tower, Snape the east, and McGonagall the west. There is a dome over us, and they are obviously trying to keep it up. Shots bombard it from the outside.  
  
Running over to Hagrid, I whip out my wand. Seven years of learning come to me as I join the half-giant.  
  
"Ron! What are you doing here? Where are the others? We told you to RUN!" Hagrid bellows over the sound of quivering stone.  
  
"I'm SICK of running! And no one's left. It's just me, Hagrid; and I want to die for Hogwarts."  
  
Hagrid seems to understand this. I cast a simple flying spell, and soar to the point above the courtyard. I stop, hovering. The shots stop as well. I can see Voldemort coming closer, and I know what will happen. I will hold my head up high, and I will meet him head on.  
  
She's with him. She is proud of me, I know. She will help in anyway she can, but it is still too late.  
  
I know this is where I will die. I will die trying to defend my home.  
  
I will not run.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
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